Slots deal at last

Friday

Jan 24, 2014 at 10:56 AMJan 24, 2014 at 10:56 AM

By Marc Larocquemlarocque@tauntongazette.com

Bridgewater’s town government went down to the wire in its negotiations with slot parlor applicant Raynham Park over a surrounding community agreement, before the contract was finalized and announced by the two parties on Tuesday, Jan. 14 after assurances were made to provide equitable spending in the regional public school district.Under the agreement, Bridgewater would receive $150,000 each year from Raynham Park, with a 2.5 percent annual increase if the developers fulfill their plan of securing the state’s sole slot casino license and operating a proposed $227 million gambling facility on its longheld dog track property on Route 138 in Raynham.The crux of the negotiations, according to Bridgewater’s town manager, was the need to balance any increased spending in the Bridgewater-Raynham School District that may result from Raynham’s injection of $1.1 million annually in host community compensation. The two parties announced the deal on Tuesday, Jan. 14, nearly a week after Bridgewater and Raynham Park jointly filed for arbitration proceedings with the Massachusetts Gaming Commission, since failing to make an agreement by Jan. 7 at 11:59 p.m."We’re the only town in the state to get to the point where we filed with the gaming commission our intent to arbitrate," said Bridgewater Town Manager Michael Dutton."The gaming rules are that even if you provide notice to the gaming commission, you can continue to negotiate. … We had been talking quite a lot, down to the wire, and then realized by midnight last Tuesday, which was the deadline, that we weren’t going to be able to come to a resolution by then."The problem, from Bridgewater’s perspective, was that Bridgewater had no protection from increased assessments as part of the Bridgewater-Raynham School District, for which Bridgewater pays approximately 60 percent of the local cost."At that point, one of the sticking points was our contention that the host community agreement of Raynham, which is great for Raynham, had the potential to adversely imbalance school assessments," Dutton said."Raynham would have available to it a lot more money to be able to fund any number of municipal needs, but certainly schools. Each town has an equal amount of members on the school committee. … We wanted some kind of language that would mitigate potentially a negative impact."Dutton said that Bridgewater and Raynham Park were able to develop language in the contract that would alleviate the problem, through the potential use of the Massachusetts Gaming Commission’s statewide mitigation fund."We settled on language that allows for us to do a study on that issue and petition the gaming commission at a point later on if we determine we’ve had a significant negative impact," Dutton said. "We can petition the gaming commission for mitigation funds … that are available for unforeseen impacts to a community."The surrounding community deal with Bridgewater is the last surrounding community agreement that Raynham Park needed to make, said Conor Yunits, a spokesperson for the development group.Raynham Park was also the only one of the three slot parlor applicants in the state — including proposals in Plainville and Leominster — to voluntarily reach "nearby community agreements" with other towns that could potentially be affected by the proposed casino, Yunits said."These agreements state that after two years of operation, Raynham Park will commission impact studies to determine if mitigation is necessary for these four communities and, if so, they can negotiate at that time," Raynham Park said in a statement.In addition to its surrounding community agreement with Bridgewater, Raynham Park also previously made surrounding community agreements with Easton ($362,500 annually), Middleboro ($50,000), Taunton ($200,000) and West Bridgewater ($250,000).Raynham Park said that the agreements offer the most generous mitigation package of the three slot competitors’ community agreements. The Raynham Park development team, including operating partner Greenwood Racing from Pennsylvania, also boasted their plans to give out $5,000 in annual gift card to their patrons for local businesses."We are committed to being a good neighbor and having strong partnerships with our surrounding communities," said Tony Ricci, CEO of Greenwood Racing, which operates another slot casino in Bensalem, Pa. "I’m proud that we have offered the most mitigation to our neighbors and we believe that demonstrates our commitment to the community as a whole. I’m grateful for the ongoing, productive dialogue we’ve had with local officials and I look forward to working with them as we build a world class slot facility in Raynham."The Massachusetts Gaming Commission is expected to award the slots license in February or March.